From Culturalist Nationalism to Conservatism

Aymeric Xu

Published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2021

From Culturalist Nationalism to Conservatism

Origins and Diversification of Conservative Ideas in Republican China

Aymeric Xu

Volume 4 in the series Transformations of Modern China

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110740189

Overview
Contents

About this book

What does it mean to be a conservative in Republican China? Challenging the widely held view that Chinese conservatism set out to preserve traditional culture and was mainly a cultural movement, this book proposes a new framework with which to analyze modern Chinese conservatism. It identifies late Qing culturalist nationalism, which incorporates traditional culture into concrete political reforms inspired by modern Western politics, as the origin of conservatism in the Republican era. During the May Fourth period, New Culture activists belittled any attempts to reintegrate traditional culture with modern politics as conservative. What conservatives in Republican China stood for was essentially this late Qing culturalist nationalism that rejected squarely the museumification of traditional culture. Adopting a typological approach in order to distinguish different types of conservatism by differentiating various political implications of traditional culture, this book divides the Chinese conservatism of the Republican era into four typologies: liberal conservatism, antimodern conservatism, philosophical conservatism, and authoritarian conservatism. As such, this book captures – for the first time – how Chinese conservatism was in constant evolution, while also showing how its emblematic figures reacted differently to historical circumstances.

Author information

Aymeric Xu, École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), Paris.

Topics

Frontmatter Accessible Download PDF	i
Acknowledgements Accessible Download PDF	v
Note on Romanization Accessible Download PDF	vi
Contents Accessible Download PDF	vii
List of Illustrations Accessible Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	1
1 Conservatism: An Idea Rooted in the Present Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	34
2 Culturalist Nationalism from the 1890s to the 1900s Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	74
3 From Culturalist Nationalism to Nationalist Conservatism Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	119
4 Liberal Conservatism and Anti-modern Conservatism (mid-1910s‒1930s) Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	143
5 Philosophical and Authoritarian Conservatism (1920s‒1940s) Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	180
Conclusion Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	213
Annex Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	228
Bibliography Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	230
Glossary Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	250
Index of Persons Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	257
Index of Subjects Requires Authentication Accessible Download PDF	260

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
Audience: Scholars and students of modern Chinese intellectual and political history
Pages
- Front matter: 10
- Main content: 264
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 9
Keywords: Conservatism; Republic of China; Political Science; Intellectual history

eBook

Published: April 19, 2021
ISBN: 9783110740189

Hardcover

Published: April 19, 2021
ISBN: 9783110739909